Nonperturbative atom-photon interactions in an optical cavity
H. J. Carmichael, L. Tian, Wei Ren
One of the principal developments in cavity quantum electrodynamics in the last few years has been the extension of the ideas originally applied to systems of Rydberg atoms in microwave cavities to optical frequencies. As a corollary of this, more attention is being paid to quantum fluctuations and photon statistics. Another development, still in its infancy, is a move toward experiments using slowed or trapped atoms, or velocity selected beams; these methods are needed to enter the nonperturbative (strong dipole coupling) regime for one atom where there are experiments on subtle quantum-statistical effects go carry out. In this chapter we solve a number of theoretical problems related to these themes. Although the focus of the work is on optical systems, most of what we do is also relevant at microwave frequencies. We emphasize quantum fluctuations and photon statistics, and we try always to separate the quantum physics from those aspects of the physics that are understandable in classical terms. On the whole we only pay attention to the nonperturbative regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics where the dipole coupling strength is larger than the dissipation rates. 59 refs., 14 figs.
•Dec 31, 1994•4 citations